In summary

We have now reached the end of Week 1.

We’ve explored the concept of skills from a number of different angles and perspectives, and we hope it has been informative and enjoyable. We began by introducing the future skills agenda and then set the scene with some of the major change forces facing higher education. We shared a number of future projections, alerted you to several interesting debates and raised some important questions about the changing nature of work. All of these questions have serious implications for the future of universities and colleges. While we can debate the true significance of the changes taking place and how we should define and attempt to measure future skills, it is difficult to imagine that higher education will be unaffected by such changes and that we’ll be living in the same system we are now.

Next week, we shift our attention to how traditional credentials might become an increasing focus of attention over the next few years as institutions respond to the future skills agenda and wider change forces. Before beginning the next topic, you might like to reflect on and share in the comments the main points you have taken away from this discussion, using the below prompts:

• What was the most valuable thing you learnt from this topic?
• Did anything surprise you?

If you have any questions or comments for your course educators, we’d also encourage you to place them here, and we will endeavour to respond to you! We also hope that you’ll join us next week, where we will learn about micro-credentials, and the potential benefits and challenges in utilising them.